Why do we look down on others?

In Secondary Chapel I spoke about one of my favourite movies –  Mean Girls. In the movie, the ‘mean girls’ look down on everyone else. It’s so ridiculous, it’s laughable. Whilst it’s entertaining when you’re watching this on screen, it’s not as entertaining in real life. It’s horrible when people judge. Now when I say judge, I don’t mean disagree or critique or evaluate – I mean someone looks down on another person. But why do we look down on one another? I asked some of the students and staff at NBCS to get their insights…

to make them feel better about themselves because they feel insecure…
because we forget their value perspective because it’s easier to think that we’re right and they’re wrong…
probably because like people feel like they’re more superior to other people…
jealousy…
they think they are superior to other people because they’re different…
they haven’t been exposed to enough diversity…
because they have a sense of empowerment…

Can you imagine going through life never looking down on anyone? It starts with the perception of self. Before we judge others, may we look at ourselves, our strengths, our shortcomings, our reactions, our biases. And if and when you do, perhaps you could look to see the beautiful work of the Lord Jesus, that we could look up to him out of thankfulness, and embrace those either side of us without looking down on anyone.

We love equality and the Christian Gospel is the great equaliser.

Damien Whitington
Senior Chaplain